Brewing Goals

Over the course of the last year I've been brewing extract kits. This has been done mostly at a whim with very little planning into what I brewed. The kits were selected for taste for the most part, and the goal (besides making good beer to drink) was to learn the process involved, techniques, sanitation, fermenting, kegging/bottling, etc, etc.

One of the great things about home brewing is that you can brew exactly what you like to drink. This also can lead to stagnation, you only brew a select few beers over and over. One of my goals is to be proficient in brewing any style of beer. In order to do this, I have to make sure that I continue to branch out from brewing beer that I currently already enjoy, and try out new things. Even I don't know whether or not I'll like the new ones more, or less, than what I consider to be my current favorites.

Another aspect of branching out to cover all styles is that it will help me in another goal of becoming a certified beer judge. It is one thing to do the training for certification, learning the styles based off of examples provided, and quite another thing to know the styles inside and out because you've made your own examples.

I've put together my own little spreadsheet that has the BJCP style guidelines, and I've putting in the recipes I've already made. I plan to tackle a new style at least once a month in the coming year that I have never done in the past, while also keeping stocked up on some of my wife and my favorites.

I'm going to have to put off the lager styles for now as I don't have a freezer or fridge I can dedicate to lagering, yet. So my first foray into new territory looks like I will be making a English Brown of some sort. When I find the style and recipe, I'll post it.